This Reformation audio resource is a production of Stillwaters Revival Books. There is no copyright on this material and we encourage you to reproduce it and pass it on to your friends. Many free resources as well as our complete mail order catalog containing classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb at swrb.com, by phone at area code 780-450-3730, by fax at area code 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. T6L3T5. If you do not have a web connection, please request a free printed catalog. Lectures upon the Principal Prophecies of the Revelation by Alexander MacLeod, Doctor of Divinity, 1814, tape 5, as read by Samantha Ellosice. The terrible scenes of the third woe, with all the barbarities which have been consequent upon the French Revolution, are by no means in themselves cause of joy and thanksgiving. When, therefore, the saints are said to rejoice in them, it is because these judgments are in the providence of God introductory to the millennium. It is in the birth of the child, and not in the pangs of travail, that the parents and the friends rejoice. It is on account of their effects that the saints are required to rejoice in the judgments of God upon the nations of the earth, and therefore they do rejoice. Psalm 47, 8, Thy unheard and was glad, and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O Lord. To those pious men who do not suffer themselves by interest, by prejudice, or by partialities, to become blind to the immoral character of the kingdoms of this world It is certainly gratifying to witness the period of their overthrow, to live to see in these overturnings the answer of many prayers, and to have laid before their eyes those miracles which confirm the faith in the sacred predictions and in the infinite perfections of their God. For in the light of miracles, the fulfillment of prophecy ought uniformly to be contemplated. It is with high ecstasy that this very period of the world will, a few years hence be celebrated according to the text now under discussion. We give thanks to Thee, O Lord God Almighty, because Thou hast taken to Thee Thy great power and hast reigned." This interposition, says Dr. Johnston, this interposition of God in establishing Christ's kingdom over the whole world is called His great power. That is, in the symbolical language, the exertions of His power in favor of the Church of Christ. of which all his former exertions were only types. However great, gracious, and many have been the exertions of divine power in favor of the Church of Christ, all these shall not only be greatly exceeded by that One which shall overthrow Antichrist, bind Satan, and establish and perpetuate the reign of truth, righteousness, peace, and joy over the whole earth, but by that One, their true intention, and the hand that performed them, shall be rendered much more visible than they were before that period. Then the kingdom of God shall come, and it shall then be evident that His is the power which hath brought about that period, and that the whole shall illustriously display His glory. Third, the means employed in executing the woe, and in bringing about that great and desirable event, the millennium, are not very particularly described. hurried on to the most pleasant part of the scenery exposed to view after the sounding of the seventh trumpet, it is only in the concluding sentence that the Apostle takes notice of the judgments. These same events, too, were afterwards to be introduced to view in another part of the prophetical history of the same period, and in such connection as requires more attention to the instruments employed in executing the wrath of God. Moreover, the seventh trumpet, though in the first instance announcing woe to the inhabitants of the Symbolical Earth, and bringing down upon them swift destruction, has a reference to the subsequent changes which take place in the moral world until the day of final retribution, and on that account, we cannot describe the events of the trumpet as comprehended in the second grand period designated the period of the trumpets. The period of the seals embraces only the first six, for the seventh seal comprehends all time, and the period of the trumpets for the same reason comprehends only the first six trumpets. Footnote. I quote an excellent paragraph from Bishop Newton to show that I am not singular in this sentiment. At the sounding of the seventh trumpet, verse 15, the third woe commences. which is rather implied than expressed, as it will be described more fully hereafter. The third woe brought on the inhabitants of the earth is the ruin and downfall of the anti-Christian kingdom, and then, and not until then, according to the heavenly chorus, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever. St. John is wrapped and hurried away, as it were, to a view of the happy millennium without considering the steps preceding and conducting to it. At the same time, the four and twenty elders, or the ministers, he ought to have said members, of the Church, verses 16, 17, and 18, are represented as praising and glorifying God for manifesting His power and kingdom more than He had done before. and give likewise an intimation of some succeeding events, as the anger of the nations, Gog and Magog, 20 verse 8, and the wrath of God displayed in their destruction, 20 verse 9, and the judging of the dead, or the general judgment, 20 verse 12, and the rewarding of all the good, small and great, as well as the punishing of the wicked. Here we have only a summary account of the circumstances and occurrences of the seventh trumpet. but the particulars will be dilated and enlarged upon hereafter. And thus we are arrived at the consummation of all things through a series of prophecies extending from the Apostles' days to the end of the world. It is this series which has been our clue to conduct us in our interpretation of these prophecies, and though some of them may be dark and obscure, considered in themselves, yet they receive light and illustration from others preceding and following. Altogether, they are, as it were, a chain of prophecies, whereof one link depends upon another, and supports another. If any parts remain yet obscure and unsatisfactory, they may perhaps be cleared up by what the Apostle himself hath added by the way of explanation. and that thou shouldest give reward to thy servants, the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, small and great, and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. This is a part of the Eucharist hymn of the twenty-four elders, who represent the whole Church of God. Considering the power of God displayed in executing judgments on the anti-Christian beast, and in the establishment of the millennium, they look forward through succeeding ages to that day which is emphatically the day of the Lord. the final judgment. Having celebrated, in verses 15 to 17, the period of the millennium, period 4, of our general arrangement, they glance at that of Gog and Magog, period 5, in the words, the nations were angry. They hasten on to period 6, the time of the dead, when they should be judged, and they speak of period 7, when all accounts being settled, men of every description shall eternally reap the fruit of their doings. Then the righteous shall be happy, that thou shouldest give reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name small and great. Then also shall the wicked, who by their sins are the destroyers of themselves, and of the countries in which they dwell, suffer eternal death. Destroy them which destroy the earth. It is only in the 19th verse, the concluding sentence under this trumpet, that the Apostle introduces the subject of woe. As soon as the trumpet sounded, he heard the voices of the heavenly inhabitants, and he puts upon record their declarations before he describes the representations which were made to him of the judgments which preceded the triumphs. The vision, however, he must give. Punishment must be inflicted in its time. It is painful, but it is necessary. God is just and will by no means clear the guilty. verse 19, And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament. And there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail. Heaven is the symbol for the Church of God, which is frequently expressly called the Kingdom of Heaven to denote both the origin and the end of the dispensation of the grace of God to men. In the visible church at this epoch, The temple of God was opened so as to reveal the Ark of the Testament. Templum, a temple, a space in the heavens, for taking omens from the flight of birds, and thus denotes the place where the augur took his seat to make his observations. Footnote, Adam's Dictionary. End of footnote. The Latin word became, of course, employed to designate a place dedicated to religious worship. a sanctuary, and our English word temple is of the same import. It is often used in scripture as synonymous with the house of God, the tabernacle of the Lord, the palace of the Most High. The Hebrews, before the magnificent edifice was built upon Mount Zion by Solomon, did not hesitate to call their principal place of worship the temple. 1 Samuel 1.9 and 1 Samuel 3.3 also Psalm 28 verse 6 and afterwards also they referred to the same splendid building by the name of Tabernacle Jeremiah 10 verse 20, Hosea 12 verse 9. The opening of the temple in heaven accordingly signifies that the means of divine knowledge had become abundant in the Church of Christ. There was seen in his temple the ark of his testament God's gracious covenant with man in the mediator Jesus Christ was set forth by the ark which was constructed by Moses and laid up in the sanctuary. This Hebrew word, or coffer, made of shittim wood, probably the Arabian acacia, covered with plates of gold, contained the two tables of the Decalogue which were miraculously engraven on Mount Sinai. It was upon the cover of this ark called the mercy seat, Greek word and Hebrew word, that the high priest sprinkled the blood of the sacrifice upon the great day of atonement. It was overspread by the cherubim and upon it rested the Shekinah, the glory of the Lord, from which Jehovah communed with his people Israel. The ark accordingly represented the essential properties of the Christian religion the mediation of Jesus Christ, atonement for sin by the sacrifice he offered, and communion with God in grace and glory through him who is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. The sacred ark was concealed in the most holy place, in the temple, from the observation of all except the high priest on the day of atonement. In allusion to this fact, and in order to indicate a period of increasing Christian knowledge It is said the temple was opened and the ark of God revealed. Contemporaneously with the terrible woe of the seventh trumpet, extraordinary efforts are successfully made to render the means of Christian knowledge more abundant throughout the earth. Now is the time of these wonders. The seed of Jacob are already scattered among the nations, as do fallen from the vast expanse of heaven over all lands. The oracles of the living God, rendered into the several languages of the world, are carried over its territories. As the sun going forth from his tabernacle makes his circuit unto the ends of heaven, the herald already stands on the border of every hostile empire, proclaiming in the name of the great God peace upon earth and goodwill toward men. At the same time, the political systems, including those religions which are no more than departments of state polity, are in awful commotion. While the temple was open and the covenant revealed, there were lightnings and voices and thunderings and an earthquake and great hail. These words summarily comprehend all the judgments of the third woe. They do not, it is true, describe minutely or in detail the character of the revolution or of the agents employed in bringing it to pass, and it may be inferred from this that there is information elsewhere given to supply the deficiency. All that was necessary, under the seventh trumpet itself, to say upon the subject is, that adequate punishment shall be inflicted, the beast of Rome entirely destroyed, and upon the overthrow of the fourth tyrannical empire, the kingdoms of this world shall be remodeled and settled upon moral principles and have their social order regulated by the statutes of the Christian religion. As means have been amply furnished for ascertaining the time of the woe, and the same period of time is elsewhere more particularly described, we must rest satisfied although in this text our curiosity is not gratified to its full extent. The very copious details furnished in the history of the concluding vials will in due time make up for the scantiness of the materials apparent in the present instance. And besides this information, detailed in the three chapters which follow the account of the seven vials, there is a variety of other means provided in the Apocalypse for developing the events of the third woe. Mr. Faber, however far he may have erred in the view which he has given of the seven vials, judged correctly in introducing under the seventh trumpet the harvest and the vintage of God's wrath as described at the close of the fourteenth chapter. These two distinct parts of the judgment which shall destroy Antichrist undoubtedly belong to the third woe, and however fancifully the seven vials have been divided by the expositor last mentioned between the symbolical harvest and vintage, a parceling for which he has given no reason, no sufficient warrant, the historical events are with much discernment applied to that era of the judgment, the period of the harvest which alone as yet is the subject of history. The vintage, he justly remarks, is not yet arrived, and with equal propriety he represents it as synchronizing with the seventh vial. Not, indeed, that the one includes the other, but each is a distinct account of judgments inflicted by the God of heaven at one and the same time, for the purpose of affecting, though upon distinct principles, the very same object. In order to finish this part of the discourse, already perhaps too much prolonged, we shall give the history of the events referred to in the Third Woe. The revival of the imperial power in the West, while it was decaying in the East, was necessary in order that the Seventh Trumpet should have an object upon which its judgments might be inflicted. I quote from Mr. Gibbon evidence of the fact. The mutual obligations of the Popes and the Carlovingian family formed the important link of ancient and modern, of civil and ecclesiastical history. The royal unction of the kings of Israel was dexterously applied, the successor of Saint Peter assumed the character of a divine ambassador, a German chieftain was transformed into the Lord's anointed, and this Jewish rite has been diffused and maintained by the superstition and vanity of modern Europe. The leaders of a powerful nation would have disdained a servile title and subordinate office, but the reign of the Greek emperors was suspended, and, in the vacancy of the empire, they derived a more glorious commission from the Pope and the Republic. The power and policy of Charlemagne annihilated an enemy and imposed a master. Taken from History of the Fall and Decline of the Roman Empire Volume 6 pages 176-179. The title of patrician was below the merits and greatness of Charlemagne and it was only by reviving the Western Empire that he could secure the establishment. By this decisive measure they would finally eradicate the claims of the Greeks. From the debasement of a provincial town the majesty of Rome would be restored and the Latin Christians would be united under a supreme head in their ancient metropolis On the festival of Christmas, the last year of the eighth century, Charlemagne appeared in the church of St. Peter, and to gratify the vanity of Rome, he had exchanged the simple dress of his country for the habit of a patrician. After the celebration of the Holy Mysteries, Leo suddenly placed a crown on his head, and the dome resounded with the acclamations of the people, long life and victory to Charles, the most pious Augustus crowned by God the Great and Pacific Emperor of the Romans. Without injustice to his fame, adds the historian, I may discern some blemishes in the sanctity and greatness of the Restorer of the Western Empire. Taken from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 6, pages 190-193. As to the extent of this empire, I quote from the same historian what is amply supported by the testimony of other writers. It extended between east and west from the Ebro to the Elbe or Vistula, between the north and south from the Duchy of Beneventum to the River Eder, the perpetual boundary of Germany and Denmark. The islands of Great Britain and Ireland were disputed by a crowd of princes of Saxon or Scottish origin, and after the loss of Spain, The Christian and Gothic kingdom of Alfonso the Chaste was confined to the narrow range of the Asturian Mountains. These petty sovereigns revered the power or virtue of the Carlovingian monarch, implored the honor and support of his alliance, and styled him their common parent, the sole and supreme emperor of the West. The transfer of the imperial throne to Germany was affected in the reign of Otho, also called the Great, Anno 962. He, says Mr. Gibbon, was the conqueror and apostle of the Slavic nations of the Elbe and the Oder. The marches of Brandenburg and Schleswig were fortified with German colonies. From the King of Denmark, the Dukes of Poland and Bohemia confessed themselves his tributary vassals. At the head of a victorious army, he passed the Alps, subdued the Kingdom of Italy, delivered the Pope, and forever fixed the imperial crown in the name and nation of Germany. Taken from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 6, page 199. The empire of Charlemagne and Otho was distributed among the dukes of the nations or provinces the counts of the smaller districts, and the war graves of the marches or frontiers, who all united the civil and military authority as it had been delegated to the lieutenants of the first Caesars. The golden bull which fixes the Germanic constitution is promulgated in the style of a sovereign and legislator. And hundred princes bowed before his throne, and exalted their own dignity by the voluntary honors which they yielded to their chief. nor was the supremacy of the Emperor confined to Germany alone. The hereditary monarchs of Europe confessed the preeminence of his rank and dignity. He was the first of the Christian princes, the temporal head of the great Republic of the West. The oracle of the civil law, the learned Bartolus, was a pensioner of Charles IV. and his school resounded with the doctrine that the Roman Emperor was the rightful sovereign of the earth from the rising to the setting sun. The contrary opinion was condemned, not as an error, but as a heresy, since even the gospel had pronounced, and there went forth a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. Taken from History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Volume 6, pages 214 through 218. By these passages, from the pen of a celebrated writer who had not the most remote idea of accommodating history to the scripture prophecy, it is evident that the Western Empire was indeed restored and continued in the persons of Charlemagne and Otho and the successors of Otho on the throne of Germany down even to our own time. Here then we find the great Roman beast revived in the West while under the first and second woe he was expiring in the East. And the last supreme head of the Empire becomes of course the object of the third woe. It is to be destroyed in order that the nations may undergo a thorough reformation. An entire revolution is of course to take place throughout all the kingdoms erected within the bounds of the Roman Empire. And the Emperor of Germany is to be remarkably distinguished by the woe inflicted upon him in the overthrow of his power. In this view of the Germanic Empire I am not alone. Mr. Faber also remarked that the Emperor has always claimed and has always been allowed precedence over every one of the Ten Horns and as such he has invariably been considered as the head of the great European Commonwealth. He also refers to Sir George McKenzie as saying, amongst kings the emperor is allowed the first place by the famous ceremonial of Rome, as succeeding to the Roman emperors, and therefore the German and Italian lawyers, who are subject to the empire, have with much flattery asserted that the emperor is the vicar of God in temporals, and that jurisdictions are derived from him as from the fountain, calling him dominum Such was the political condition of Europe when the seventh angel sounded the third woe trumpet under which the present convulsions commenced which are by the irrevocable decree of heaven to terminate in the total overthrow of all the governments now existing and in the establishment of a general reformation upon true Christian principles. In the year 1672, the third world terminated with the siege of Kemenyek at the end of the hour, the day, the month, and the year of the Euphratian horsemen. But the effects of that revolution in the Greek Empire are still witnessed in the existence of the Ottoman power. In a little more than one century after the abolition of the power of the Eastern Caesars, that judgment commenced which is destined to destroy the revived empire of the West. The lightnings and thunders which precede the earthquake and the destroying hail first arrest the solemn attention of the alarmed nations. As two awful clouds rising from distant parts of the horizon move and approach through the vast tracts of Aether until they meet, and with terrible concussion pour down upon the earth their fire and their hail, so the two opposite and contending interests of liberty and of despotism, gathering new strength in distant parts of the civilized world, meet in the heart of the empire and extend their dreadful convulsions over all its members. The Revolution of 1776, which separated forever from the British crown the United States of America, taught the inhabitants of Europe a practical lesson upon the subject of effectual resistance to oppression which shall never be forgotten. The dismemberment of the Kingdom of Poland by the three neighboring tyrants of Russia, Prussia, and Austria, which was planned in 1772 and executed in despite of the patriotic exertions of the brave Kosciuszko in 1795, gave to the civilized world an unequivocal witness that thrones of iniquity are deaf to the voice of reason and of justice, and still are ready to reduce to practice the doctrine which a feeble or base priesthood have charged upon the Christian religion, that the possession of power gives a right to rule, and binds, under the risk of divine wrath, the weak into submission without daring to call in question the right by which they are held endurance. It was in the heart of civilized Europe, however, that the third woe commenced. France, the central power, the most populous, the most learned, the most licentious, and not the least despotic of the nations, France, considered as the son of the anti-Christian system, the kingdom in which was actually revived the empire of the West, was destined to become the principal instrument of its final ruin. She had given assistance to the son sons of freedom on the plains and along the shores of Colombia until the Republican eagle snatched the oppressed provinces from the paw of the Royal Lion of England. She transported from our shores across the tempestuous Atlantic the fire of liberty and it speedily burst forth in an awful flame in her own capital. But France was morally incapable of an immediate enjoyment of liberty and peace. She was corrupted by the long and gloomy reign of tyranny and superstition. In the scale of morality, she occupied the lowest grade. It was, moreover, inconsistent with that distributive justice which meets out to every nation as such its full measure to permit those who had abundantly shed the blood of the martyrs to escape a proportionate vengeance. The sins of the fathers must be visited upon their impenitent children. the throne of Louis, and the altar at which his priests ministered with unwashed hands, had been both defiled with the blood of the saints, and they both require to be washed in the blood of the guilty persecutor. Where are the instruments of the punishment to be found? Where are they who shall prevent the establishment of liberty in France? They are found among her own unprincipled sons, among her ambitious, disunited, fickle, and ferocious demagogues. among the foes of freedom in the world, and on the several thrones of the adjacent nations. The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved, the pillars of empire began to tremble, tyrants felt their heads for their crowns, and with convulsive violence grasping their scepters they resolved at Pilnitz that the example of America should not be copied in Europe. and that the Iron Law which had recently been adopted for the purpose of annihilating the Kingdom of Poland should be applied in its full rigor to revolutionary France until her rising liberty should sink into the tomb. The Confederacy of European Monarchs was formed. Footnote, the partition treaty was signed July 1791 and on the following month the Treaty of Pilnitz was signed personally by the Emperor and the King of Prussia. End of footnote. France resisted. The contest commenced. The angel of death presided over the storm. He blows his trumpet. It is the third and the last woe to the inhabitants of the great Roman Empire. The French Revolution took place in the year 1789. The States General, an assembly consisting of three distinct bodies, nobles, clergy, and common people, which had not met for nearly 200 years were convened by the call of Louis XVI on the 5th of May. They all met in one hall. The representatives of the people equaled in number the other two orders, and they assumed the name of the National Assembly. They abolished the nobility, destroyed the feudal system, reduced the clergy to a state of dependence on the public treasury confiscating the property of the Church. They erected a limited monarchy. the king reluctantly yielded. He was insincere and they were distrustful. And in the year 1792 they called a national convention. It met on the 21st of September and immediately resolved to erect upon the ruins of the monarchy a republican system. On the 21st of January 1793, Louis Capet, the dethroned king of France, who had been alternately a captive and a fugitive, was put to death, and the new Republic had to prepare herself against the wrath which she provoked by her cruelty, and especially by her disrespect for the powers of Europe, including the imperial head of the Roman earth and the several horns of the beast, the kings of the earth. These were all instigated to bring down upon themselves by their own instrumentality the woe which was denounced upon them by the God of Heaven on account of their sins. They rushed into the battle, and France had to contend with the combined powers of Austria, Prussia, Sardinia, and the Empire, together with Great Britain, Spain, and the United Provinces. France, too, a woe to herself, was remarkably fitted to be a woe to the inhabitants of the earth. Faction upon faction arose to distract her repose. She started from the most corrupt and irrational kind of superstition to the extreme of atheism, and she fetally reverted to her former creed. She changed her form of government from year to year, and her rapacious demagogues were alternately the murderers and the victims. She has at last become a great military empire, guided and influenced by the will of one man of gigantic power, of unceasing activity, of unrivaled practical skill in the art of war and of boundless ambition, who is at this moment reaping in the heart of Germany the harvest of God's wrath, and so fulfilling the predictions of my text, and serving in the most effectual manner a God whom he does not know or worship. The event is not at all doubtful. Whatever may become of Napoleon Bonaparte, the Germanic Empire must be overthrown, and the kingdoms of Europe overturned by this terrible woe shall afterwards be organized upon Christian instead of anti-Christian principles. 3. Practical Remarks Having detained you so long in the contemplation of divine judgments upon human empires and in the consideration of political movements, I deem it a duty, before I dismiss you, to direct your eye toward Him who sits enthroned in a light unconceivable, and to suggest ideas such as the Christian should habitually cherish upon taking a view of the sinful policies of human societies. First, your God, Christians, reigns over the nations of the earth and will ultimately be glorified in all their revolutions. He made all things for Himself, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. In Him, too, all things consist, for they are upheld by the word of His power. Before He called them into existence, He determined in what manner they should be governed, and He constrains them to answer the purpose for which they were formed, however unwilling they may be to obey what He commands. He who holds the waters of the deep in the hollow of His hand sits upon the circle of the earth and the inhabitants are as grasshoppers before Him. He overrules their wishes and their exertions, their deliberations and their decrees, their opinions and their passions, their pride and their ambition, their wisdom and their folly, their treaties and their battles, for the accomplishment of His benevolent designs. To Him, my brethren, yes, to Him do ye look. He is your God and your Redeemer. He is your own and your father's friend. All things shall cooperate for the salvation of his people. The events which come to pass fulfill his predictions and so demonstrate the prescience of him who ordered the end from the beginning. Trust in him, rejoice in him, and a great reward shall be given you of the Lord God of Israel under whose wings you are come to trust. Standing upon a rock, you may behold without dismay the agitation of the deep the rolling of the billows, and the tossings of misguided nations. You are safe, and the Lord shall preserve you for ever and ever. Second, let us ascertain, ye disciples of a municipal saviour, the end which he has in view, and so employ our agency in bringing it to pass. Nothing can be more honourable than to be serving and promoting the designs of heaven. Thus, cooperating with God, our labour shall not be in vain, Our work shall not be lost, and we shall be certain of success. In his prophetical discoveries he is pleased to make known the end, and he has proclaimed the law from Zion by which we are to be governed in the employment of means to bring that end to pass. Let your political attachments yield to what he demands. Let your ideas of self-interest be subjected to the fulfillment of his precepts. Let your prejudices and your partialities as well as your deliberate sentiments be offered up to your God, and let your ardent prayers accord exactly with the information which He gives relative to His judgments upon the great anti-Christian empire and to the instruments which He employs to inflict the threatened woe. In vain you would desire a different result from that which He has predicted. In vain you would oppose the plan which He has laid down and proclaimed. Omniscience discards the counsels of short-sighted men, An omnipotence is not to be resisted by the feeble arm of flesh. Your personal welfare, O believers, though you know not the method, will be effectually promoted. The good of the Church, the ultimate interest of human society, the glory of the moral governor of the world, will be promoted. Say not then, as did Peter in the rashness of his zeal and the ardor of his affection, far be this design from thee. lest you meet with a humiliating rebuke, get thee behind me, Satan. Embark not your hopes and your affections in the cause of apostate nations, lest your affections should be involved in woe, and your hope should perish. Thus saith the Lord God of every profane and wicked prince, of the head of the empire of the West, and of all its different kingdoms, whose day is come when iniquity shall have an end, thus saith the Lord God remove the diadem, and take off the crown. This shall not be the same. Exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn it, and it shall be no more, until he come who's right it is, and I will give it him." Ezekiel 21, 25. Thus shall ye be prepared to join in the celestial hymn of the four and twenty elders which sat before God on their seats, saying, We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come, because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall reign forever and ever. Third, let us lament the political conduct of Christians in the present age of the world. I speak not now of those men who profess Christianity merely because it is the religion of their fathers or of their country. I speak not of those men who talk of religion as necessary to keep the multitude in subjection, but not at all necessary to men of learning and of rank. I speak not of those men who degrade Christianity into an instrument of avarice or ambition, but of those who love my God and who trust in my Redeemer and enjoy the fellowship of the Holy Ghost. many such Christians there are yet upon the earth, it is a mercy to the earth that this is the case. Amidst the distractions of the visible Church, amidst the confusions of civil societies, amidst the clashing of the nations, there are thousands and hundreds of thousands of such holy men scattered over the earth, but they are yet in a state of imperfection, and their political conduct is generally lamentable. To them, this seventh and last trumpet is a voice of warming and the harbinger of triumphant joy and peace. To the world, this trumpet is a woe. To the inhabitants of the Latin Empire, the Symbolical Earth, it is a woe. To the Germanic Empire, the successors of Charlemagne and of the Caesars, it is the great and last woe. To the horns of the beast, the crowned heads of Europe, its language is, your kingdom is departed from you. concerning revolutionary France, impious and ambitious nation, the prophecy says, Thou art this woe, the rod of mine indignation, the principal instrument of these overwhelming judgments. Is it not then lamentable to see the disciples of our Lord divided from one another by attachments to such contending powers? They enlist with zeal in the conquest and take opposite sides in the field, in the forum, in the pulpit, and in the oratory. They indulge in violent passions, they cherish lasting animosities, they weaken one another's hands, they bring reproach upon their profession, they give occasion to worldly men to laugh at the religion which is thus so often degraded into a political instrument of party spirit, and they insult the throne of grace with contradictory prayers entirely inadmissible before the Lord. Let this not forever be the case. The remedy is easy. It is at hand. Form your estimate of the nations by the light of truth. Weigh their pretensions in the balance of the sanctuary. Religion is not with any of them identified. It pronounces their punishment and hails the approaching Reformation. They are only kingdoms of this world which must perish for their iniquities. Examine the character of the principal warriors and statesmen. Admire, if you will, their various and splendid talents, judge of their comparative qualities and merit, reason upon the proximate and remote effects of their achievements, indulge so far as you will your conjectures upon the particular and general results of these great contests which are going on. On all these points you may indulge different sentiments and be guiltless, but O, for the love which you bear to our Lord who died for our sins and now governs the nations, preserve your love for one another and for the cause of God, and studiously avoid indulging either wishes or opinions which are inconsistent with what He has revealed to you in this book. Amen. Lecture 8 The Seven Golden Vials Revelation 15.11 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who liveth for ever and ever. The instinctive impulse to acquire knowledge, which every man feels in a greater or less degree, is remarkably connected in all its exercises with the love of society. Secluded entirely from the prospect of imparting to others the result of our own inquiries, Steady would speedily be forsaken by perseverance, and Curiosity herself must lose her power. This law of our nature, the existence of which cannot be disputed, is an additional evidence of the wisdom and benevolence of Him who made us, and who appointed to all the sons of men the bounds of their habitation, because it greatly multiplies the means of personal improvement and general felicity. The author of our being said of man, while yet in primitive innocence and excellence, it is not good that he should be alone, provided with social principles a great part of our facilities would remain unoccupied and much of our happiness would be cut off, where we separated forever from society and constrained to live in eternal solitude. In the pursuit of information, the strongest excitement which we feel consists in the hope of communicating our requirements to our fellow creatures, and personal enjoyment is multiplied by the opportunity of admitting others into a participation of them. Religion, too, would be stripped of her most interesting ornaments, were each individual secluded by her commands from the presence of witnesses and confined in a solitary residence, however magnificently furnished. The communion of saints is one of her precious blessings. Woe to him that is alone! God setteth the solitary in families. The principle under consideration is that which imparts to history her peculiar charms. By the power of memory, a thing formerly seen may be recalled to the mind with different degrees of accuracy, and history is an enlarged artificial memory. With respect to interesting objects and events, we are not satisfied with a cursory review, but must dwell upon every circumstance. I am imperceptibly converted into a spectator and perceive every particular passing in my presence as if I were In reality, a spectator. Taken from Lord Cain's Elements of Criticism. A great part of the art of the historian, accordingly, consists in preserving without interruption this ideal presence of his reader with the persons and the events which he is describing, and for this purpose it is necessary that he carry on his narration without perplexing it with too great a variety of circumstances however legitimately connected with his principal subject. He must attend to the actual and present concerns of his company without attempting to divert our attention by the family history of the several members. He will find himself nevertheless constrained to return in a subsequent chapter to the consideration of persons and things connected with his principal theme, and accordingly necessary to be known, although the order of time should be reversed. This must needs be the case also with the history of future events furnished in the apocalyptic prophecies. Having pursued directly in chronological order the series of important events predicted until we arrive at a certain point, we must return to the contemplation of another series which at this point meets with the former and which gives the character in a greater or less degree to the subsequent events most interesting to the house of God. We are now arrived in the course of these lectures at that point which calls for these general observations. In the exposition of the seals and the trumpets we have pursued the history of society as connected with the great concerns of Christianity in the regular order of time from the age of the apostles until the overthrow of the great Roman power in both the East and the West. Under the six seals We have attended to the leading events of the first period and so explain the judgments of heaven upon the pagan empire. Under the seventh seal we found the trumpets and in the exposition of the six trumpets we have described the judgments which overthrew the Christian empire in the second period of this prophecy. By the seventh trumpet intimation has been given of the events of several subsequent periods and so far as it was a woe trumpet It synchronizes with a part of the period of the vials to which the chapter from which I have taken my text is introductory. This is the third great period of the Apocalypse. It exhibits, as we shall show in due time, the judgments of a righteous God upon the anti-Christian empire. And as it involves the history of the most interesting concerns of the Christian Church In her connection with the several civilized nations of Europe, it is by far the most important period of this sacred book. To it belongs, of course, the greater part of the predictions, and we accordingly will devote to it more time and attention. In our transition from the trumpets to the vials, we must, however, return from the point of time at which we had arrived, to the consideration of that point at which this period commences. Indeed, it is necessary to begin earlier than the period itself with our discussion in order to give a correct idea of the grand object of the vials by a history of the rise of that anti-Christian system which it is their part to punish and demolish. I confine myself in this introductory discourse to an exposition of my text and context and a development of the plan which I propose to pursue in explaining the events of the period which lies before us. 1. I shall explain the figurative phraseology of my text and so ascertain its meaning. In this interpretation we must need to attend to the vials and their contents, to the agents employed for using them, to the personage who delivered the vials into the hands of the seven angels, and to the accompanying chorus. The instruments of this righteous judgment are called in the text seven golden vials full of the wrath of God. In the eighth verse of this chapter these are denominated the seven plagues and in verse one the seven last plagues. For in them is filled up the wrath of God. These expressions convey to the most superficial reader the idea of punishment inflicted by Jehovah upon some certain criminals convicted by adequate evidence before his awful tribunal the English word vile may mislead the reader they were such cups as were used in the temple for the purpose of libations wider at the top than at the bottom footnote Dr. Priestley's notes on the text and a footnote Greek word which we render vile is probably derived from Greek word to drink enough and signifies a bowl or small basin. In this sense, the learned dabas shows it is used by the best Greek writers. The Seventy likewise employ it generally as a translation of Hebrew word, a bowl or basin. Footnote. C. Parkhurst. End of footnote. The name Philae was therefore given to the famous fountain or lake at the foot of Mount Hermon, from whence Jordan derives its stream from its resemblance to a great basin. These golden vials were designed, however, to hold not the incense which symbolizes the prayers of the saints and are accepted of our Lord, but the wrath of heaven which is to be poured out upon the earth as the effect of his justice in the punishment of transgressors. Golden vials, they are they nevertheless are, for his judgments are just and precious, and are, in their place, essentially necessary for the preservation of the order of his empire. 7. The number of completeness is the number of the golden vials, for they are the last plagues, and embrace the whole wrath of God towards the object of the vials. No punishment has ever been inflicted upon the anti-Christian system which is not placed under these vials, nor shall any judgments hereafter come down upon the symbolical earth which are not included under this complete arrangement. The vials, of course, embrace whatsoever hath hitherto come to pass in the providence of God, for the punishment and overthrow of the grand apostasy. This consideration ought itself to be sufficient grounds for rejecting that interpretation which, by whatever names it is supported, renders all the vials subsequent to the era of the Reformation. He must be blind indeed to the light of history who denies that during that remarkable period judgments were inflicted upon the kingdom of the beast. Second, the agents employed in pouring out upon the apostate nations those cups of the Lord's indignation are said in the text to be seven angels. They appear, verse 1, as a sign in heaven, great and marvelous. And verse 6, they come out of the temple in order to execute their commission. And the seven angels came out of the temple having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. The sign, Greek word, was seen by the Apostle John in heaven, and it was not only great, but also marvelous in his estimation. Heaven is a symbol of the true Church of God. There, the signs of the times are to be seen and known. This, verse 1, was another sign in addition to that described in chapter 12, verse 1. That, 1, is called in our translation a wonder. But the word in the original is the same as in this case. The signification in both instances is the same. The events were to come to pass on earth, but the sign was seen in heaven. On account of the church, her anti-Christian enemies shall be punished, and that punishment is signified and made known to the church for the comfort of all her faithful sons and for their encouragement in resisting the man of sin. The angels themselves are the messengers of divine justice, the actual dispensations of providence. They come out of the temple with the plagues which they are appointed to inflict. Penal dispensations are predicted in the church, are solicited from God in prayer against the enemies of the kingdom of Christ, and are appointed by the head of the church for the sake of his body. They are consequently holy. The angels indeed appear stepping forth from the holy oracle to fulfill the divine will in the habilements of the high priest in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles. Girded up for their work, with clean hands and a pure heart, they shed the blood of the victim, and yet their own garments remain unpolluted. They are justified in their deeds. It is the command of God, and although destructive of the lives of thousands, they are right who direct the execution." Abraham was commanded to offer in sacrifice his beloved son and was justified in his intentional obedience although the deed would have been without a parallel for cruelty if it had been unauthorized and would certainly be so reckoned in the world by those who knew not the authority upon which the father of the faithful acted. The punishments of the anti-christian foe are thus also capable of vindication although they may appear to those who are ignorant both of the law and the extent of guilt incurred severe and bloodthirsty. These seven plagues, says Dr. Johnston, which under seven distinct dispensations of divine providence partly have been and partly shall be brought upon papal Rome, as predicted in the following chapter, shall all be brought upon her in her public or national character for the injuries which she hath done and still shall do in that character to the persecuted Church of Christ during that period. that these plagues upon Rome shall come out of the Church of Christ during that period is intimated in chapter 11 verse 6. These have power to smite the earth, the empire, with all plagues as often as they will. These angels, like the high priest under the law, are clothed with fine and white linen and have their breasts girded with golden girdles. Thus it is symbolically represented that these dispensations are the ministers of God, that they strictly execute the divine command and act only ministerially in bringing those plagues upon papal Rome. Third, he who delivered unto the seven angels these last plagues deserves our attention. One of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God. The four beasts are the Greek words of chapter 5. We have already corrected the translation of these words and explained their meaning. These four living creatures are the ministers of the gospel, and one of them, that is, a certain class of Christian ministers, delivered unto the authorized agents of divine judgment the vials of wrath. This action beheld in vision by the Apostle John is very expressive. the living creature had received from his master the seven plagues which were to fall upon the anti-christian powers civil and ecclesiastic and he coming out of heaven gives them up to the angels in order to execute without delay the sentence passed upon the inhabitants of the earth footnote Greek word whether derived immediately from Greek word to smite or remotely from Hebrew word to shake Denote such a calamity as inflicts a heavy blow upon its subject. The strokes of vengeance upon the anti-Christian empire are many and severe. They are nevertheless appointed by the head of the church, and the ministers of the church will, of course, denounce the judgment, and, instead of lamenting or preventing the execution of the sentence, will order the agents of providence to their work." End of footnote. one only of the four living creatures is thus employed. While the many pastors and teachers of the Church are occupied in promoting by other methods the interest of Christ's kingdom, there are a few of more public spirit, of more correct information, of greater fidelity to the social concerns of the Christian world, and of less subserviency to the schemes of temporizing politicians who deliver up to the angels the plagues which come upon the nations. They do so by explaining and applying the predictions, by testifying against lawless power, by plainly pronouncing sentence from the word of God upon the opposers of righteousness, by actual encouragement to the instruments of vengeance, and by prayer for the overthrow of Satan's kingdom, including the several kingdoms of the Roman earth. Psalm 79, 6 and 7. Pour out thy wrath upon the heathen that have not known thee, and upon the kingdoms that have not called upon thy name, for they have devoured Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place. Judgments inflicted upon the nations for the sake of the church ought certainly to be approved of by her members and her ministers. We are bound to pray for them as appears from this verse and also from the example of the Prophet Jeremiah chapter 10 verse 25. We are moreover required to rejoice in them. Psalm 48 verse 11. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad because of thy judgments. Nor is this inconsistent with that benevolent and merciful spirit which becometh the disciples of our Lord. It is assuredly consistent with piety to acquiesce in what its author finds necessary for his own glory to do, and the charity of Christians cannot be sincere when it tends to prevent what the Redeemer Himself, in His mercy to them, performs in support of true religion. Is it inconsistent with the holiness of angels to approve of the divine justice in the punishment of man? Is it not consistent with the holiness of God to reveal His wrath And can it then be inconsistent with an evangelical disposition to rejoice in the overthrow of the nations that do hurt to the Church of God, and so oppose the best interests of the human family? Christians cannot, I admit, entirely divest themselves of solicitude for the prosperity of the civil communities to which they belong. They ought not to be negligent of such things, their own temporal interests, the lives, and the properties of their friends and their relatives are interwoven with the national policy. Their passions and their prejudices are interested in the political elevation or degradation of certain men. Their own fears and hopes and their calculations of futurity, cooperating with patriotic sentiments, very frequently and very justly influence their opinions and their wishes. The obligations of truth, of piety, of the divine will expressed to the reasonable creature still, however, remains in force, and if the combined effect of such circumstances as have been mentioned extenuates the crime of inattention to the purposes of providence in the revolutions of nations, it by no means can justify resistance to these purposes or vindicate the man who laments the demolition of thrones of iniquity and looks back fretfully like the wife of Lot upon the ruins of Sodom and Gomorrah. A very different state of things is represented in this chapter. The angel of destruction comes out of the church, the temple, and the minister of Christ gives up to him the plagues which he is to inflict on the world. Fourth, a holy company also appears in the church celebrating the event in songs of exaltation. Verses 2-4 And I saw, as it were, a sea of glass mingled with fire, and them that had gotten the victory over the beast and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God. And they sung the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints! Who shall not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy. For all nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments are made manifest. This celestial band of choristers demand Your attention, my brethren, that understanding their situation, their character and their song, You may join their hallowed company and take a cheerful share in their virtuous exercises. They stand on a sea of glass mingled with fire. This crystal sea, chapter 4 verse 6, was before the throne in the temple of Jehovah. It represents the blood of the covenant by which we are justified and sanctified. In this vision, the sea appears mingled with fire. Its waves flash with the flames of divine indignation, shining high to the glory of His justice. The situation of the saints is accordingly described as consisting in union with Christ in the merits of his atoning sacrifice and in his exercise of vengeance upon them who are not interested in the atonement and obey not the gospel. Our God is a consuming fire. The holy choristers stand upon the rock and the divine perfections are as a wall of fire around them for the destruction of their persecutors. Number two, they are characterized as having gotten the victory and as having the harps of God. They who stand upon the sea of glass are conquerors and more than conquerors through him that loved them and washed them from their sins in his own blood. For they overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Revelation 8.37 and Revelation 12.11. They had celestial harps given to them. This instrument of music is of great antiquity. Jubal, in Genesis 4 verse 21, invented both harps and organs before the time of the general deluge. Harps were in use in the temple service and are described as uttering lofty and cheerful sounds adapted to the happy condition of the church. The use of them was laid aside during the captivity as unsuitable to the depressed state of the saints in Chaldea. Psalm 137 verse 1 and 2, By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down. Yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hanged our harps upon the willows in the midst thereof. The music of the harp was less of the plaintive than of the Eucharist kind as appears from his description. Solemn and sweet melody employed in giving thanks to God for his mighty works. Isaiah 23 16 and Psalm 92 verse 1 through 3. It is therefore suited to the song of the conquerors when they beheld the angels of the vials going forth to pour out the wrath of God upon their enemies. This company are also characterized from the nature of the warfare which they had accomplished. It is of a peculiar kind. They had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name. It is of importance to the correct interpretation of this prophecy that definite ideas be attached to each of the four symbols mentioned as overcome. A full exposition of them must, however, be postponed until a subsequent part of these lectures, when we shall assign our reasons for the sense in which we now understand them. The Beast is the Western Empire in its civil capacity with all the governments of its several kingdoms tyrannical, immoral, and opposing pure Christianity by establishing corrupt religious systems and by persecuting those who dissent from such establishments. The image of the beast is the papacy, the impious human headship of the church, reduced for mere political purposes into the form of a worldly kingdom. The mark of the beast is the actual profession of the established superstition by those who contrary to the law and the testimony of Jesus Christ worship according to the inventions of men. The number of the name of the beast, or the name itself, is the Latin system of social order in the great corrupt political and ecclesiastical commonwealth of European nations. Greek word for 666, Latinus, is the name of the beast. Against the beast, his image, his mark, and his name or number, the band of holy men described in this chapter give their testimony. They oppose, they contend, they conquer, and they triumph. They are, it is true, in turn opposed, misrepresented, pitied, detested, and persecuted by their fellow men. They suffer shame and reproach and loss. But they have truth and righteousness upon their side. and they are held up in prophecy as patterns of Christian imitation. They have the approbation of their own enlightened consciences, of the best men in every age, of confessors, apostles, and martyrs, of the prophets who have gone before them, of the angels of light, and of the living and eternal God, standing therefore upon the sea of glass, whose waves flash with fiery indignation against the slavish rotaries of Antichrist. They behold the faithful ministers of the gospel pronouncing divine judgment and giving to the angels clad in white and with girdles of gold the plagues which have put an end to the system of iniquity which have long afflicted the churches and the nations. Accompanying with their voices the exalted strains of their celestial harps, they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb. The Song of Moses merits your attentive perusal. It is found in Deuteronomy 32 verses 1-43. It predicts, says Dr. Johnston, all the calamities which have befallen the Jews and the cause of them. It foretells the character, rise, height, and downfall of Antichrist and closes with the Jews and Gentiles united in one church singing in concert their triumph over the common enemy. The Song of the Lamb, adds the same writer, is recorded in this book, chapter 5, verses 8-14. How exactly does this song celebrate the joyful occasion of the commencement of the millennium and represent both Jew and Gentile united in the same triumphant victory over Antichrist? The following words is a compend of these two remarkable songs. Great and marvelous are thy works, Lord God Almighty! Just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints! Who would not fear Thee, O Lord, and glorify Thy name? For Thou only art holy, for all nations shall come and worship before Thee, for Thy judgments are made manifest. The language of this song requires no exposition. Piety will always suggest to the judicious Christian suitable instances of the greatness and goodness of our Almighty King. Let all glorify Him, for in the vials of His wrath are His judgments made manifest. and all the nations shall hereafter come and worship before him. In the meantime, few understand the merits of the controversy between the world and the church. True Christians steadily give their testimony as witnesses in favor of the latter, but some men take one side of the question and others the other, and multitudes calling in question the knowledge or the veracity of these two witnesses, hence During that period, take the wrong side of that important and interesting question. But when, in the course of divine providence, Rome shall be completely overthrown in the manner and at the time predicted in this book, when those whose religion consists in that truth, righteousness, peace and joy, which the Bible teaches, shall in the course of divine providence increase in number and rise into high respect in the world, these events shall be justly considered as they are in themselves the publication of the judgment or sentence of God himself in favor of the pure, simple, and scriptural religion of Christ. This view which the minds of men shall take of these events shall be one principal instrument in the hand of God at that period to make all the Gentiles come and worship before God." Footnote, Dr. Johnston's Commentary on the Revelation, pages 121 and 122. End of footnote. Number two. I shall lay before you an outline of the plan which I propose to pursue in explaining the events of the third apocalyptical period. It is absolutely necessary in order to understand the operation and effects of the seven golden vials that we previously know the character of that system of anti-Christian disorder which they are intended to punish and destroy. It is uncontrovertibly proved by the commission given to the seven angels who had received these vials, that the grand object of the wrath of God contained in them is the Symbolical Earth, the Western Roman Empire. Chapter 15 verse 1, And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. This object, so perplexingly and painfully interesting to the greatest and the purest parts of the Christian Church through a succession of ages, had been long before this revelation was given to John the Divine, the subject of sacred prediction and minute description. The prophets of the Old Testament often spake of it, and the New Testament brings it repeatedly into view. In the prophecies of Daniel and in several chapters of the Apocalypse, preceding the one in which the vials are introduced to our observation, we have various and very particular representations of this great and long enduring enemy of righteousness in the earth. It is of course taken for granted that in reading the account given of the pouring out of the vials, we are so far acquainted with the object of the divine judgments as to understand their special design. We must therefore request your attention to such preceding predictions as are necessary to be understood by the student of prophecy in order to make up a correct opinion upon the events of the period at which we are now arrived. The account which we have in this context of the actual condition of the true church at the time of commissioning the angels of the vials is also calculated to enforce the propriety of such considerations. The period of the vials represents the Church of God as possessing the means of extensive knowledge, as consisting of comparatively a few faithful members, and as finding it peculiarly difficult to increase the number. Verse 5 and 8. And after that I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened, and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power, and no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. The opening of the temple indicates, as I have shown in the last lecture, the increase of Christian knowledge through the means of grace divinely appointed in the church. I do not deny, however, that besides this idea, the consistency of metaphorical language required the opening of the gates of the temple in order that the angels might go out to their work. But this fact, instead of militating against the interpretation given of the symbol, will in the present instance tend to its support. The instruments of vengeance could not have proceeded out of the Church, nor could the ministers of religion give up to the proper agents the judgments to be inflicted upon Antichrist without being possessed of correct information upon these subjects. I am therefore justified in maintaining the consistent use of the symbolical phraseology and in describing this period as a time of increasing Christian knowledge. The history of the times of the vials will render this fact obvious to all, although the whole period has not been so remarkable for the diffusion of the light of the gospel as that part of it now passing over our heads and which has recently been under discussion. Then, when the temple was opened, the Ark of the Covenant was also revealed. But in the case before us, the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of the Lord and from His power, and no man was able to enter into the temple." This expression denotes both the paucity of church members and the difficulty of augmenting their number. Greek Sentence The glory of God, Greek words, is the Shekinah, above the mercy seat, God in Christ, or rather, the Glory Jehovah. for it is the translation of the Hebrew words see Habakkuk 2.14 Isaiah 11.5 and 60 verse 1 and 2 also Romans 6.4 James 2.1 compare with Revelation 21.11.25 from him God our Redeemer the head of the church proceeds a symbolical smoke It cannot, of course, be like the smoke of the pit under the first woe, a system of falsehood and delusion, such as the Muhammadan Quran, but a righteous display of his own perfections in the punishment of transgressors. Greek word smoke is from Greek word to burn and Greek word breath and signifies an exhalation from burning, literally the burning breath of the Lord. There is undoubtedly a reference in these words to the facts recorded by Moses and the writer of the book of First Kings. Exodus 40 verse 35, And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. First Kings 8 verse 10 and 11, The cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord. It is not, however, an insignificant reference to these facts. It declares that none entered into the church, the temple, for a specified time during the period of the vials, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled. Such is the tendency of the anti-Christian opposition and the consequent judgment that it is difficult, even in a Christian land, to ascertain the path of duty, and the effect is that while the world wanders after the beast, there are a few who enter among the faithful witnesses of primitive truth and order against the corrupt systems of the several nations of Christendom. The multiplicity of interests and temptations with which the political condition of Christians is embarrassed so far prevails over the abundant means of Christian knowledge that the pure church is a small minority among their fellow men. It is of course the more necessary that we attend to this subject and become ourselves, my brethren, faithful in our generation. In order to assist you in your resolutions, to act with those who dwell in the tabernacle of the testimony during this eventful period, I intend to explain the subjects connected with the golden vials of God's wrath in the following order. First, I shall show that the object of the wrath of God poured out from the golden vials is the Antichrist. And in my lecture upon this subject, I trust I shall be able to convince you that notwithstanding the recent and the very learned efforts of Mr. Faber to restrict the application of this title of infamy to modern and revolutionary France, the fathers of the Reformation have not been mistaken in their application of it to the corrupt system of Roman tyranny and superstition. I shall show from the inspired writings of John, of Daniel, and of Paul, that the great apostasy connected with the fourth universal empire is designated not improperly the Antichrist, which is defined to be that abuse of the Christian religion which, interwoven with tyrannical constitutions of civil polity within the bounds of the Western Empire of the Caesars, is opposed to the true religion and an obstacle to its prevalence in church and state. Second, I shall explain the contents of the little book of the Apocalypse. Here I must also oppose Mr. Faber and justify the arrangement of Bishop Newton, limiting this book to chapter 11 verse 1 to 14. In the exposition we shall describe the two great contending parties who carry on a warfare of 1260 years. A heathenized church in connection with immoral government in opposition to the true church, the witnesses of Christianity. Third, I shall give from the twelfth chapter an exposition of the vision of the woman and the dragon another representation of the contest between the true Church of God and the power of the civil arm throughout the whole empire during the same period of 1260 years. Fourth, a lecture upon the 13th chapter, which gives a more full description of the character of the Roman apostasy, will furnish you with the interpretation of the two beasts, the ten-horned beast of the sea, and the two-horned beast of the earth, together with that of the image of the beast, of the mark of the beast, of his name, and the number of his name. These visions are another collateral history of that system which it is the design of the viles to punish and destroy. Fifth, I shall give, from the fourteenth chapter, a compendious history of the Christian religion in its truth and power during the same remarkable period of the general apostasy. In this history, there will appear three distinctly marked epochs of peculiar success in spreading the saving knowledge of revealed religion in the world and in opposing the errors of Antichrist. The conclusion exhibits the harvest and the vintage of divine judgments upon the commonwealth of European nations. Sixth, having thus explained in detail my views of that system, which in the provenance of God has been permitted to afflict the earth for centuries, I shall proceed to give the history of each vial by itself, comparing the event with the prediction. This will complete the discussion of the third period, called the period of the vials. This Reformation audio resource is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. There is no copyright on this material, and we encourage you to reproduce it and pass it on to your friends. Many free resources as well as our complete mail order catalog containing classic and contemporary Puritan and Reformed books at great discounts is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb at swrb.com, by phone at area code 780-450-3730, by fax at area code 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Avenue, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, T6L3T5. If you do not have a web connection, Please request a free printed catalog.